1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a web feed apparatus. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an apparatus for controlling web feed to and from a printer such as a laser printer. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a feed control apparatus for permitting web feed from a roll to a printer, for printing and subsequent re-rolling or folding.
2. Background Discussion
One printing apparatus to which the concepts of the present invention relate is an IBM 3800 laser printer. This laser printer is designed to accommodate paper in folded form from a feed box and is furthermore adapted, to deliver the paper in folded form to an output box after the printing has been carried out. One of the problems with the box-to-box feed is that boxes have to be replaced on a relatively frequent basis. On the other hand, a roll of paper can store the equivalent of up to thirty boxes and would thus would require far less frequent care-taking.
Present attempts at modifying the laser printer to accommodate roll feeding have not been totally successful. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved web feed apparatus that may be used with a laser printer or other form of utilization device modified to accept roll-fed paper. Another object of the present invention is to provide a modification to the printer apparatus so that it can readily accommodate either input box feed or input roll feed.